Amber, Steel
by nealalalala
Summary: It made absolutely no sense to her that everyone kept saying Zoro's eyes were dark. Established Zoro x OC


It happened one morning when Nami made an offhanded comment about Zoro's eyes being dark. "That's because there's no brain in his head," Sanji had replied with a smirk. Of course, that prompted the swordsman to threaten the cook and everyone ended up on deck to watch the fight while Luffy stole the breakfast that had been carelessly left on their plates.

As sword slashes, kicks, and swearing filled the air, Shiloh stood with the others, puzzled by Nami's words. She had spent many moments staring into Zoro's eyes, some awkward, some romantic, but each time was very educational.

She and Usopp (who was standing directly to her left) ducked as the swordsman and cook flew over their heads, their insults echoing around the ship. "Hey, watch it!" The sharpshooter cried. "Some of us aren't ready to die yet! Right, Shy?"

The redhead gave him a puzzled look, her mind elsewhere. "Are Zoro's eyes that dark?"

Usopp blinked, as if processing her question before sighing and slinging an arm around the short young woman's shoulders. "Look," he began casually. "I know you two are a 'thing' or whatever, but even you have to admit Zoro has a scary face."

Shiloh frowned. Usopp must have noticed her disbelief because he brought a hand to his forehead and groaned. "Well, I guess it's true that love is blind." The redhead blushed at the use of the 'L' word (she and Zoro weren't quite there yet) but shook it off as the long-nosed man continued, "Yes, Shy. Zoro's eyes are _very_ dark. And _very_ intimidating."

"I don't think so."

"Of course you don't," Usopp replied, gently patting the top of her head in an almost condescending manner. "It's never directed at you." He moved to point towards where Zoro and Sanji were currently engaging in an insult war. "Just look at the way he's glaring at Sanji. Eyes as dark and threatening as the dead of night."

Shiloh let out a small laugh. "They only look like that because we're far away," she argued. "They don't look dark up close."

"Yes they do."

"No they don't."

" _Yes,_ they _do._ "

" _No,_ they _don't_."

"What are you two talking about?"

The redhead shifted a bit to the side to let Luffy, who had thrown his arms around both of their shoulders, stand between them. Before Usopp could start telling the captain a tall tale, Shiloh asked quickly, "What color do you think Zoro's eyes are?"

Luffy looked up thoughtfully before cracking a toothy grin. "Gold, probably."

" _What?!_ " Usopp yelled, grabbing the captain by the collar and shaking him. "Are you blind? There's no gold in Zoro's eyes at all!"

"Yes there is," Luffy insisted. "Whenever we're in a serious fight his eyes get kinda gold. Ish. Gold-ish."

"I've seen it too," Shiloh agreed. "Not all the time, but it's there."

Usopp let out a groan. "A glint doesn't define the whole eye color!"

"I'm pretty sure it's close enough," Luffy insisted with a frown.

"Actually," Chopper broke in, one hoof raised. Shiloh had long ago learned that the gesture was the doctor's 'I'm about to explain something to you' sign. "Usopp is right. Flecks of color in the iris don't determine the color. A mixture like green and brown creating hazel can but in Zoro's case, his eyes usually have one solid color."

Shiloh titled her head as Usopp raised a brow and Luffy stared at the doctor expectantly. When no one said anything, the redhead prompted, "Which is…?" Surely Chopper, who had examined Zoro's eyes countless times to check for head injuries after many a serious battle, would provide a definite answer.

"Dark."

Usopp punched the air triumphantly and directed a smug smirk at Luffy. "I told you so."

"But he _sometimes_ has gold in his eyes, right Chopper?"

"Sometimes," the reindeer agreed.

"So I'm right too, Usopp!"

"No you aren't!"

"Yes I am!"

Shiloh shook her head as the two began to wrestle, bringing the number of crewmembers fighting on deck up to four. Chopper sidled up to her and cocked his head cutely. "What's wrong, Shy? Are you confused? Do you need me to explain it again?"

The redhead knelt down and patted the doctor's head. Offering a small smile, she replied, "No, I understood. I just happen to respectfully disagree."

"But facts are facts and it's widely accepted in the medical community that spots or specks of color in an iris don't determine-"

"Not that part," Shiloh interrupted with a laugh. "The part about Zoro." Chopper blinked, a confused look on his face. It was endearing to the redhead, so she lowered her voice and said as gently and lovingly as she could, "I don't think Zoro's eyes are dark. Not at all."

* * *

The rest of the day, Shiloh had tried to get Zoro alone so she could take a good look at his eyes. However, something always got in her way, such as needing to cut vegetables for Sanji in the galley or helping Franky pull Usopp out of the cranny he had somehow or other gotten stuck in on the lower deck or helping Nami ink some of her maps. When she was finally done running around, it was dinner and it was her job to help serve it. After everyone had finished eating she had to wash dishes and by the time she was done, Zoro was already training in the crow's nest and there was no way she would be able to interrupt. Well, technically she could have; Zoro was pretty lenient with her, but that didn't mean she wanted to take advantage of the fact.

That was how she ended up in the bath with Nami and Robin (once in a while they would bathe together and have some nice girl time), thinking way too hard about Zoro and his eyes. And his body. But mostly his eyes.

A splash to the face and loud giggling brought the redhead out of her thoughts. "You're cheeks are awfully red, Shy. Thinking about something dirty?"

Warm cheeks burned hotly at the navigator's question. "No," she denied too quickly, earning another laugh from the other women. "It's just the steam."

Robin offered her a knowing smile. "Would the steam happen to also be the cause of the pensive look that was on your face just now?"

Even Shiloh knew there was no hiding anything from the perceptive historian. Taking a breath, she explained. "I was thinking about what Nami said earlier."

"About?" The orange haired navigator asked as she rinsed the soap off herself and prepared to soak in the tub.

As Shiloh scooted closer to Robin to make room for Nami, she replied, "About Zoro's eyes."

Slowing sinking into to the steamy water, Nami sighed contentedly before asking, "What did I say about Zoro's eyes?"

"I believe you said that they were dark," Robin replied.

"Oh yeah." Nami shrugged. "What about it?"

Shiloh paused to consider the more buxom woman's question. What _was_ it about Nami's statement that bothered her so? Obviously she disagreed, but there was more too it than that. She couldn't figure out why they didn't see what she saw, especially since they had know Zoro so much longer than she did. A small frown on her face, the redhead managed to reply softly, "That's not right."

Obviously confused, Nami tilted her head, eyebrows pushing together. "Huh?"

It was Shiloh's turn to draw a deep breath, warmed by the hot water's steam. "For something to be dark, there has to be an absence of light. Zoro's eyes have more light in them than anyone's I've ever seen."

Robin made a thoughtful noise. "I see what you're trying to say. But in Nami's case, I think she was talking about the actual color."

"What?"

"Shy," Nami broke in with an exasperated huff, "Let me ask you something. What color are Zoro's eyes?"

If she were to be honest with herself, Shiloh thought Nami's question was incredibly stupid. The answer was so obvious that it was almost annoying that she had asked it. And yet the redhead remembered how Usopp and Luffy couldn't agree on the answer earlier that day.

But she knew the answer. And she knew Nami, if asked, would give an incorrect one. Shiloh's heart skipped a beat excitedly. It was almost as if she had a secret, something special she knew about the swordsman that she didn't particularly want to share. With that feeling locked away in her heart, she answered slowly, "Luffy said they're probably gold."

"They're black." Nami answered flatly. "That's why no one can tell. Black eyes reflect colors when you look at them from a certain angle. You can see it in Luffy's sometimes too. They'll look gold or brown depending on the lighting. Whatever you're seeing in Zoro's is probably just a trick of the light."

Shiloh turned disbelieving eyes towards Robin, as if for a more proper explanation. However, Robin's sharp, all-seeing iries simply shone with amusement as her lips turned upwards into a grin. The dark haired woman surprised her a minute later when, as Nami turned to leave the bathtub, she offered the redhead a small wink and whispered just loud enough for her to hear, "Why don't you take a closer look?"

* * *

When Shiloh finally managed to find Zoro, he was walking towards the men's quarters, presumably to go to bed. In her excitement to finally get a chance to speak with him, she ran as fast as she could towards him, yelling his name as she wrapped her arms around his middle. "ZORO!"

"SHIT!"

The next thing Shiloh knew, she was on her bottom, Zoro looming over her with a confused expression, a singular sword drawn. "Uh…" he managed slowly as he realized who he had knocked down. The redhead knew she was incredibly lucky that he had neither lopped her head off or started berating her for startling him. "Hey." He greeted as he reached down to help her up.

"Sorry," Shiloh replied as she brushed herself off. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't scare me," Zoro answered with a huff, sheathing his sword with a much more characteristic scowl on his face. "What's going on? Why the hell did you scream like that for?"

The redhead wasn't really sure how to explain what it was she wanted from the swordsman, so she didn't even try to make it not weird and asked casually, "Can I look into your eyes for a minute?"

Zoro blinked once, twice, before confusion filled his face. "Huh? The hell does that even mean, Shy?"

"I just want to see something."

The swordsman brought his hand to his forehead and let out a sigh. "Is this another 'couple' thing? Because it's weird." Regardless, he stepped closer to the small woman and bent down, hands on his knees so he could be closer to her eye level. "All right?"

"No." Shiloh felt a blush rising to her cheeks but she moved anyway, wrapping her arms around the swordsman's middle and pushing against his body with hers so that he was standing up straight again. "Like this." She drew back the tiniest bit so she could look up into his face. "Okay?"

Zoro still looked confused, but there was a tiny bit of redness in his cheeks that told Shiloh that he would humor her. She always felt so lucky that the swordsman treated her with such patience. Most of the time, anyway. He took a breath and answered quietly, "Okay."

Shiloh closed her eyes and counted to three before slowly opening them and meeting Zoro's strong gaze. At first, his eyes did seem black. But after a second, she began to see what she had always seen whenever she was close enough to Zoro: A rich and shimmering grey.

They were deep but clear, dark like steel rather than pale like silver but worth just as much if not more to the redhead. They were sturdy like the swords he expertly wielded and every bit as metallic. Those were the eyes she so often got lost in, the eyes that were sharp and fast as an eagle's and yet at the same time warm and comforting as a soft caress. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared into them, feeling herself getting dangerously pulled in with no desire to stop it. She saw strength and determination in those eyes, but also affection and gentleness. How the others didn't see all that beauty and light, she had no idea. But, she realized, maybe it was better this way. If she were the only one who understood, so be it. She didn't mind not sharing the absolute depth of the swordsman's gaze. In fact, it made her feel just a little bit special.

* * *

Zoro had no idea what was going through Shiloh's odd little mind. What he did know was that he was getting sucked into her intense gaze. It wasn't as if he had never looked into the redhead's eyes before; On the contrary, he was incredibly familiar with her bright searching regard, her oddly knowing stare and her affectionate glance. But in that moment, she was giving him a completely different look altogether.

It was as if she were looking _into_ him. He could feel her looking into his very core, invading his mind and settling in his chest. And yet he couldn't bring himself to hate the weird, vulnerable feeling that she had unleashed. From the very beginning of their relationship (which he had to admit wasn't _that_ long ago compared to some others) he had never felt that the redhead had invaded any part of his life that he wasn't willing to share.

And oddly enough, even to him, he had realized that there was nothing he wouldn't tell her. So he just stood there as she searched him, staring into her amber eyes, marveling at how, even in the moonlight, they almost seemed gold.

The swordsman had never said it out loud, but the color of Shiloh's eyes always filled him with curiosity. Mihawk was the only person he knew who had truly golden yellow eyes, but Shiloh's often turned the same shade, especially in the light of the setting sun.

But despite the similarity in color, Mihawk and Shiloh's eyes couldn't be more different. He had lived and trained under Mihawk for two years, so he was more than familiar with the older man's unyielding cold gaze. There was certainly strength in his eyes, built from years of experience of the world and of battle, but there was also a lack of something. Something he hadn't realized wasn't present in the dark haired man's eyes until he saw it in Shiloh's.

 _Recognition._

To Mihawk, the younger man was a student and a rival. There was nothing personal in the way he looked at Zoro. Sure, at the end of his time with the other swordsman Zoro had come to realize that Mihawk regarded him with at least a little respect, but there was nothing personal about it. There was no feeling there other than mutual understanding. He could have been replaced with someone just as stubborn (like Kuina, if she had lived long enough) and it would have all been the same to Mihawk.

Zoro had no problem with that, in fact, he preferred it. He wouldn't have wanted to establish any relationship with the older man other than teacher/student and rival. He still had to kill him eventually, after all.

But it was exactly that lack of familiarity that made Zoro realize the strength of it in Shiloh. When the redhead looked at him, she really looked at _him._ Not his abilities, or capabilities, not his strength or lack there of. What she saw…

Well, Zoro didn't really know exactly _what_ she saw when she looked at him so intensely but what he did know was that her eyes filled with a warm light that made him feel… all right.

All right that he was stubborn.

All right that he could be a hothead.

All right that he wasn't all that experienced in the romance department.

All right that he didn't always have a set destination.

All right that he wasn't the World's Greatest Swordsman. Yet.

It was an unassuming and all-accepting look. One that he felt was undeserved but was so thankful for.

She recognized _him._ Not Pirate Hunter Zoro or the man striving to become the World's Greatest Swordsman, but Zoro.

Just Zoro.

And as he stood there, cheeks beginning to burn, drowning in her bright amber irises, Zoro realized that he was looking at Shiloh.

 _Just_ Shiloh.

Not Shiloh the dancer or Shiloh the possible daughter of Red-haired Shanks, but his sweet, silly, honest to a fault, Shiloh.

"Hey," he muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed for his incredibly sappy thoughts, "Are you done?"

Shiloh blinked slowly, whatever spell she had managed to cast over the two of them finally broken as she gave him a small smile and replied happily. "Your eyes are grey."

Zoro raised a brow. "Yeah, I know."

A smile threatened to lift his lips as the redhead broke into a laugh. "How come none of the others do? They just kept saying your eyes are dark. Well, except Luffy. He thinks they're gold."

The green-haired man shrugged. "They probably consider grey a dark color. As for Luffy, he's just stupid."

"That's mean," Shiloh replied, a grin still on her face.

"It's true," Zoro replied with a small smile of his own. Looking at the happy woman before him warmth filled his chest, spreading from his center to his entire body. Even his fingertips tingled.

"I was right all along though," the redhead said with a bit of pride in her voice.

"Of course you were," Zoro said before he realized what he was saying, "You know me."

The words were so simple yet there was so much strength behind them. Of course his crewmates _knew_ him but there was a certain intimacy he and the redhead had that was uniquely theirs. It couldn't be replicated or shared by the others. Shiloh's eyes widened before she turned her gaze to the ground, her red cheeks causing heat to rise into Zoro's as well. "I guess I do," she replied softly with a shy smile.

Not knowing how to respond and becoming increasingly aware of how close their bodies were, Zoro cleared his throat, took a step back and willed his face to cool. "If we're done here," he said, avoiding Shiloh's gaze, "I'm going to go to bed."

The second he turned around, he felt a small hand grab his own. "Wait," he heard the redhead say. "Wait." There was no way he could deny the gentle command.

Taking a deep breath, he moved once again to face Shiloh and with just as much gentleness as she had used with him, asked, "What is it?"

"One more time…?"

Zoro didn't need to ask what she was asking for. He rolled his eyes and sighed, but he couldn't wipe the grin off his face. He brought his arms around the redhead, hands resting on the small of her back, and pulled her close. As he expected, she rewarded him with a smile and once again looked into his eyes.

But this time, as he stared right back into an amber sky speckled with golden stars, he felt himself physically pulled forward until their lips met in the softest of kisses. He was new to the feeling of romantic affection, a novice in the art of loving caresses and glances, but it didn't really matter. His heart was strong and steady, always leading him to exactly where he needed to be. Standing there with Shiloh was no exception.

Zoro felt the redhead pull back the slightest bit so he opened his eyes (when had he even closed them?) and let his hands fall away from her. She stared up at him with the warmest smile he had ever seen, so it was all he could do to gently caress her cheek with his thumb and whisper, "Good night, Shy."

* * *

Nami looked up from the book she had been reading to watch as Shiloh entered the women's quarters with a ridiculously huge grin on her face. "You look happy. Did something good happen?"

The smaller redhead flopped onto her bed and buried her face into a pillow, a muffled "Maybe," barely breaking through.

The navigator smirked. Shiloh was just too easy to read. "Not one to kiss and tell, huh?"

Shiloh let out a squeal and rolled over, pillow wrapped around her ears to cover them. However, Nami didn't fail to notice the silly grin and burning cheeks on the redhead's face as flailed about and she shouted with a giggle, "Shut up!"

* * *

Zoro let out a sigh as he closed the door behind him. Sanji was sitting up in his bunk, sending the swordsman an annoying smirk. "Good job, Marimo."

He could have threatened the damned curly-browed cook, but instead he brought his arm up so he could hide the undoubtedly stupid looking smile on his face in his forearm. "Shut up."

* * *

 _ **a/n**_

 _Just something a little fluffy that I couldn't get out of my head. Thanks for reading!_


End file.
